DRUGS N DILEMMA
It was a normal day as usual. Madhav was grateful for 45 minutes of free time after two consecutive periods of physics and chemistry. He shook his head at the thought and later smiled at the free time he was now being given. It is not everyday that one gets a free period. Being a studious sort, he took out his math notebook and started working on his assignment. Though just a minute ago he had sighed at the thought of one and a half hrs of physics and chem, the thought has vanished when he remembered the math problems his teacher had given him to solve. Math was his passion. Head bent, he worked on, scribbling furiously in his notebook.
The class was noisy as hell; as usual; and though he hated the noise, he was now used to it and it dint bother him anymore. Alok, his friend (a physics freak) and assignment-partner sat next to him. They sat on the second bench in the far left row. A bunch of girls sat huddled together at the back of the class, gossiping and giggling in the far right row. Not one of them interested him. A couple of nerdy ones sat in the front. They were more bearable. The back of the class was infested with the gang of rowdies. All they did was hoot for anything and everything that was said, and whose prime motive in life was to disrupt every class. They respected none and none respected them, at least Madhav didn't. They dared each other to ask girls out (though what fun they had in that he could never figure out… At least the girls weren’t stupid enough to take them seriously!), to stand up in the middle of an important lesson about parabolas to yell “Hey teacher, you suck!”(only to be heard by all and NOT the teacher – what losers!), to see who has more porn on their mobiles. Most of them had girlfriends and messaged each other (even if they were sitting just two seats away) in the middle of every class. Most of them had bad grades.
They had tried to pull Madhav into all their “fun” when he had first come to this PU college, but when they found out his real nature, safely left him out of all this. That was when he had given them an idea about what he really thought about them; not yelling, but quietly and firmly. They exchanged furtive glances with each other for a couple of days and tried to pacify him. But when he dint budge, they labelled him a loser and dint bother about him ever since.
Mayank was the only other person he respected in this place, other than Alok. Alok was a true nerd, even by his standards, but he did his work well and didn’t make a fuss about anything. Mayank was OK, he sometimes hung about with those guys, but he was an interesting person to talk to. The three had lunch together and often discussed various things, ranging from wars to physics to deep-sea-diving. Four months had passed this way.
Today, Madhav and Alok were deeply into their work, when Mayank came over, his face quite pale, and asked them to put their pens downs. They both looked up, startled, for Mayank never disturbed them when they were working. At such times, when they had a free period, he hung out with the back-benchers, laughing with them. But today, he looked serious, and had interrupted them. They put their work away and he squeezed in with them in their desk. He said in a quiet tone, “I have learnt something freaky, dude.” When they asked him what it was, he said “I think those guys are on drugs, man…”.
The class was noisy as hell; as usual; and though he hated the noise, he was now used to it and it dint bother him anymore. Alok, his friend (a physics freak) and assignment-partner sat next to him. They sat on the second bench in the far left row. A bunch of girls sat huddled together at the back of the class, gossiping and giggling in the far right row. Not one of them interested him. A couple of nerdy ones sat in the front. They were more bearable. The back of the class was infested with the gang of rowdies. All they did was hoot for anything and everything that was said, and whose prime motive in life was to disrupt every class. They respected none and none respected them, at least Madhav didn't. They dared each other to ask girls out (though what fun they had in that he could never figure out… At least the girls weren’t stupid enough to take them seriously!), to stand up in the middle of an important lesson about parabolas to yell “Hey teacher, you suck!”(only to be heard by all and NOT the teacher – what losers!), to see who has more porn on their mobiles. Most of them had girlfriends and messaged each other (even if they were sitting just two seats away) in the middle of every class. Most of them had bad grades.
They had tried to pull Madhav into all their “fun” when he had first come to this PU college, but when they found out his real nature, safely left him out of all this. That was when he had given them an idea about what he really thought about them; not yelling, but quietly and firmly. They exchanged furtive glances with each other for a couple of days and tried to pacify him. But when he dint budge, they labelled him a loser and dint bother about him ever since.
Mayank was the only other person he respected in this place, other than Alok. Alok was a true nerd, even by his standards, but he did his work well and didn’t make a fuss about anything. Mayank was OK, he sometimes hung about with those guys, but he was an interesting person to talk to. The three had lunch together and often discussed various things, ranging from wars to physics to deep-sea-diving. Four months had passed this way.
Today, Madhav and Alok were deeply into their work, when Mayank came over, his face quite pale, and asked them to put their pens downs. They both looked up, startled, for Mayank never disturbed them when they were working. At such times, when they had a free period, he hung out with the back-benchers, laughing with them. But today, he looked serious, and had interrupted them. They put their work away and he squeezed in with them in their desk. He said in a quiet tone, “I have learnt something freaky, dude.” When they asked him what it was, he said “I think those guys are on drugs, man…”.
Alok visibly shuddered, but Madhav merely lifted his eyebrows. Alok started stammering and started questioning Mayank madly. His usual silent character vanished. He was thoroughly excited. Madhav was quiet, listening to it all. Alok went “Are you sure, dude? How do you know? Did you hear them say so themselves? Are all of them on it? How did they say it feels? Sheesh, dude! I thought they only smoked and went to pubs occasionally...but DRUGS!! I can’t imagine! You must be wrong, man…However silly they might be, no one will ever do drugs! Most of them are soo rich, what reason would they have for doing drugs? I don’t believe it!”
He was not 100 percent sure, Mayank said, but he’d been having many hints suggesting the same. For instance, they kept referring to this place called “Black Dip”, which he had assumed to be some pub till now...but two days back he had heard someone say it was a dealer’s hideout. And they did talk a lot about grass and weed. They were not too tight-lipped about these words…and they did have more than one meaning. After college, they kept signaling each other slyly with signs only they knew…Madhav had noticed it too, but yesterday Mayank had seen something he couldn’t quite make out. Riyaan, the leader of the gang, the loudest and tallest of the lot, had got something out and passed it around. They had not noticed Mayank in their excitement. They all looked at it and sighed wistfully. But Riyaan then said they could all “have a shot at it” and their faces immediately lit up.
That evening, they signaled each other a lot more than usual, and went off one by one in the same direction. Mayank had watched all this. He thought of following them, but decided it was too dangerous and went worried back home. He decided something had to be done about all this and had thus told Madhav and Alok. And now, Alok was acting loony.
* * *
That lunch, all they discussed was “What is to be done?”
Alok: I think we should tell the authorities, man. This is serious stuff.
Mayank: Are you mad? If these guys find out its we who’ve split, you can be sure we’ll be dead the next day.
Madhav: I’m not so sure. First of all, they need not know its we who’ve split. And even if they do, I don’t think they are strong enough to do anything about it.
Mayank: You don’t know them, dude! I hang around with them much more than you do. And, I’m telling you, they can be pretty nasty! Dangerous even.
Alok: I heard they cut their own hands and parts of their bodies with bloody words to have permanent scars...
Mayank: Yes, that’s right. I’ve seen them do it. They even asked me to, but I said no..
Madhav: They may do all this, but that doesn’t show they are strong enough to do any serious damage to anyone but themselves and others who are as dumb as them. They are just highly jobless jerks.
Alok: So should we tell the authorities?
Mayank: I don’t know…the risk is too high.
Madhav: I don’t know if its worth our time and effort. Its their life, at the end of the day. Not ours. And there are enough warnings about drugs and things given to us daily, by our teachers and parents. If they are woolly-headed enough not to take them seriously, its their problem, after all, isn’t it? Why should we waste our time and effort on such losers?
Alok: But they are our classmates, dude! Don’t you care about them?
Mayank: So, what do we do at last??
* * *
This is a situation faced by many students in schools and colleges world-over. What is your take on the issue? Have you ever faced this dilemma? What do you think Madhav, Mayank and Alok should do?
He was not 100 percent sure, Mayank said, but he’d been having many hints suggesting the same. For instance, they kept referring to this place called “Black Dip”, which he had assumed to be some pub till now...but two days back he had heard someone say it was a dealer’s hideout. And they did talk a lot about grass and weed. They were not too tight-lipped about these words…and they did have more than one meaning. After college, they kept signaling each other slyly with signs only they knew…Madhav had noticed it too, but yesterday Mayank had seen something he couldn’t quite make out. Riyaan, the leader of the gang, the loudest and tallest of the lot, had got something out and passed it around. They had not noticed Mayank in their excitement. They all looked at it and sighed wistfully. But Riyaan then said they could all “have a shot at it” and their faces immediately lit up.
That evening, they signaled each other a lot more than usual, and went off one by one in the same direction. Mayank had watched all this. He thought of following them, but decided it was too dangerous and went worried back home. He decided something had to be done about all this and had thus told Madhav and Alok. And now, Alok was acting loony.
* * *
That lunch, all they discussed was “What is to be done?”
Alok: I think we should tell the authorities, man. This is serious stuff.
Mayank: Are you mad? If these guys find out its we who’ve split, you can be sure we’ll be dead the next day.
Madhav: I’m not so sure. First of all, they need not know its we who’ve split. And even if they do, I don’t think they are strong enough to do anything about it.
Mayank: You don’t know them, dude! I hang around with them much more than you do. And, I’m telling you, they can be pretty nasty! Dangerous even.
Alok: I heard they cut their own hands and parts of their bodies with bloody words to have permanent scars...
Mayank: Yes, that’s right. I’ve seen them do it. They even asked me to, but I said no..
Madhav: They may do all this, but that doesn’t show they are strong enough to do any serious damage to anyone but themselves and others who are as dumb as them. They are just highly jobless jerks.
Alok: So should we tell the authorities?
Mayank: I don’t know…the risk is too high.
Madhav: I don’t know if its worth our time and effort. Its their life, at the end of the day. Not ours. And there are enough warnings about drugs and things given to us daily, by our teachers and parents. If they are woolly-headed enough not to take them seriously, its their problem, after all, isn’t it? Why should we waste our time and effort on such losers?
Alok: But they are our classmates, dude! Don’t you care about them?
Mayank: So, what do we do at last??
* * *
This is a situation faced by many students in schools and colleges world-over. What is your take on the issue? Have you ever faced this dilemma? What do you think Madhav, Mayank and Alok should do?
BY BHARGAVI
posted by Nandini at 11:08 PM
6 Comments:
Well, Bhargavi, it's a TOUGH choice in the end. The question you pose may have many answers depending on what we think it may lead to.
The choices being:
1. Alok, Madhav and Mayank should keep mum and let the thing go on as they are.
Pro: None of them get affected and have no trouble to themselves.
Con: They see their own classmates go down to that impending doom
2. They can tell the authorities without divulging their details.
Pro: They remain unscathed and something may happen.
Con: The authorities may not take the information seriously for it comes from some UNKNOWN source and nothing may happen eventually
3. They can tell the authorities (or the students' parents) facing them
Pro: The information with be termed credible and something concrete may be done to make sure that these kids don't do it.
Con: This may mean danger to the informers as one never knows HOW violent or aggressive the drug dealers/users may get against these children.
4. They decide not to tell themselves but use some elder (taken into confidence) to do the talking.
Pro: They will not face the heat once the thing comes to light
Con: Finding such elders who trust them completely may be extremely difficult. Also, finding an elder who goes all the way to help them eradicate such heinous practices may be dificult.
After this article, which I personally think is highly relevant, I am beginning to wonder if all this existed during my time in school!!! And if it did, would it have affected me if I was a little less nerdy than I was??
I think schools needs to be a little more cautious about stopping drug peddling around schools. And children should be given information about the cons of these drugs. Only a comprehensive and reliable information can deter children from going down this gloomy and disastrous path!!!!
Well written and a very well chosen topic for writing Bhargavi. Many compliments......:-)
Love - Pritesh
thats some dissection of my article u've done there! :-)
if they choose the first option of keeping mum, its not necessary that they see their classmates go to dogs..they may realize what they r doing is bad at a later stage n something might still be done abt it..but the chances that they Will go to the dogs is quite high...
At the end of it, if these three do not find it their moral duty to report and they feel no guilt, that is the route they will take.
dude this soooo totally based on our class!!!sheesh its freaky...
i'd agre wid amdhav though....not worth out tym and effort u kno...let dose dogs go ta hell....dey r soooo convinced dat dey r 'all tht'....y shld v ruin their heaven???its their lives....oh w8....they dnt evn hav lives...d ppl hu do all dis crap r jus plain sad jerks u kno...v shld jus steer clear of them....
It is a weighty dilemma ... particularly for an young adult in school. The important issue here is one of proof. As part of the student fraternity one may be aware of substance abuse by classmates through hearsay, personal observation of behavious etd. However, 'proving' it to authorities - who would most certainly seek proof if action is to be initiated by them - is another matter altogether. My own view is that the 'authorities' in such situations are, more likely than not, already aware of - or at leaset suspect the existence of - the situation. But they are themselves victims of inaction for the same reason - proof. So, unless one of those in the inner circle come forward to name names or the parents of those affected (surely they will know sooner or later) confront the authorities, it is very unlikely that the situation can be set right.
Thought provoking article. Keep it up Bhargavi.
These days students try drugs due to either the excitement factor or the status factor.i think it will be of great help for weak minded individuals, if some of us try and change these in-group opinions, choices and decisions.This can be done in various ways.One may be through portaying the effects of this behaviour.The educational institutions could take students to drug-rehabilitation centres and help students to magnify and analyze the situations that exist there.A brief insight into the pathetic situation of the drug addicts may transform them and create awareness (hopefully).
As for the situation in the story,i think it would be best to consult the authorities as pritesh says.The risks involved there may be lesser.
Also, the situation can be handled in a better way if there are more students ready to go against these huligans you have talked about..greater the number, more the strength.
-vaishnavi
This is really a relevent article!
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